The First Humans In Acoustic City.

Mickey had it tough navigating the southern forest. Not only did the Roux impala chase him, but he also ended up getting the attention of some hyenas who kept on laughing like crazy. If it were not for him not having a scent, he would have met the Buddha.

It was like he was in a romantic relationship with the goddess of misfortune.

Sigh...

He let out a sigh of relief. Mickey had just reached his destination—the beach!

Unspoiled white sand stretched across the island, a boundless and unbroken sweep of alabaster. The air was alive with a soft, golden silence, broken only by the gentle, lapping waves, which caressed the shore with a soothing, eternal rhythm.

"...This is the right direction." Mickey muttered.

He had never visited the place before, but this place was similar to all the old images he saw on the internet.

The only difference was that Mickey was the only creature there.

A Grim expression appeared on his face.

'In the sea, it is believed that there is an entrance to the ember abyss, and most profound beasts would leave near islands,'

However, a devilish smirk formed on his face that was drenched in sweat.

'That is not the case for this island. After all, this place existed even in the legend's era, an era that most Book Lords now think of as a bunch of fairy tales. Such a pity some of the legends are no longer available on this island.'

---[Tales Xiao Ting: Chapter 1]---

"In days of old, a mystical realm of breathtaking beauty, known as Fairy Heaven, did exist, wherein humanoid beings, gifted with intellect and cognitive faculties similar to those of humanity, did dwell and prosper.

When humans learned of the art of Book Lord Cultivation, the heavenly Qi that supported fairy heaven started to lose its power, and fairy heaven fell to the lower planes.

One of such fragments was the home of the sovereigns of the night, vampires.

These humanoid creatures fed on the blood of the living, and by the time they fell from fairy heaven, most of them were dying from lack of food—blood.

When they landed in the sea, they were attacked by the beasts that lived in the waters. But how could an ancient race that was hungry for blood lose to a mere profound beast?

In only a month, the sea monsters didn't even want to come close to this place, and that attracted the attention of a bold musical couple, Zhang Wei and Xiao Ting.

The two were related - It was only obvious since there were less than ten thousand humans in the whole world at that time.

They were the first people to go beyond the seas. They both believed that they would meet other humans at the other shore.

Zhang Wei, the husband, rowed his boat gently across the stream, and Xiao Ting sat facing him, singing one of her beautiful melodies.

'In your eyes, my heart finds home

With every beat, our love has grown

Can you hear my soul whisper low?'

The ocean waves calmed down with each melody that came out of her mouth, and a smooth path opened in front of them.

'We'll drift away into the night

Our love, a compass, guiding light

Living life untethered, wild, and free

Together, forever, just you and me.'

Sea profound beasts got out of the way and even guarded the two as they passed through the entrance to the ember abyss.

'If I could turn back time and space

I'd choose you again, in every place

Through every storm, through every test

Our love shines bright, forever at its best.'

The sky cleared, and the dark clouds that had gathered were chased away like thieves.

'We'll sail the unknown, endless sea

Our hearts as anchors, you and me

No horizon too far, no wave too high

Together, we'll ride, side by side.'

Wave clashed against wave as the two got pushed into the unknown. Day and night passed, and at the break of dawn, the couple saw an island that was shrouded in a thick dark mist.

Zhang Wei might have been courageous, but at this point, he felt anxious. He could smell a strong stench of blood, and his instincts screamed for danger.

He had tried to send his divine sense to investigate the fog, but the moment his divine sense touched the dark fog, it vanished, making him cough out blood.

"Honey, I think we should go around this place."

His eyes were shaking in fear as he tried to convince his wife, but Xiao Ting was stubborn.

She continued to sing and amplified her voice with her vital grimoire, and the fog separated, creating a small path for them to enter.

Xiao Ting just winked at her husband, and Zhang Wei knew he had no choice but to follow her. She was at the peak of the mortal realms, and he was a realm below.

It might be only a realm apart, but a the difference between them was like heaven and earth.

As the couple got closer to the shore, their eyes were met with an endless lush green forest that had trees of all seasons in it.

The sight was magical, and the snowflakes raining from the sky just made it more romantic for the couple.

The two got off at the beach filled with white sand, as the sun got reflected in the sea.

Zhang Wei took his guitar and followed behind his wife, making a harmonious melody that made even the trees and rocks dance.

As the two got closer to the periphery of the forest, they encountered caves that were close together, forming something that was close to a civilization.

The two felt fear, and they were shivering unintentionally, but they didn't stop singing for a moment.

Footsteps could be heard coming from the caves, and when a deep voice echoed, they stopped singing;

""Hark, what beasts dost thou represent? The scent of thy blood doth ascend unto mine olfactory senses, a fragrance most wondrous and unprecedented."

Courageous as they may be, this time the couple felt fear and took hold of each other's hands.

Xiao Ting might have reached the so-called peak realm among Book Lords, but she felt that something inside those rock caves was far beyond the realm she was at.

The voice continued

"Hark, thy music hath entranced mine heart. In truth, it hath revealed unto me a hidden truth, that even in the radiant light of day, there lieth a beauty that can be apprehended. I pray thee, kind sir and miss, tell me the name of this enchanting melody."

The couple shuddered, and their grip on each other increased.

Xiao Ting shouted.

"Acoustic music, Acoustic music!"

The voice was a little surprised.

"Hark, thou dost revel in the pure and unadulterated tones of acoustic music? Then, I do hereby ordain that this most noble and esteemed place shall be thenceforth known as Acoustic City, in celebration of thy most discerning ear."

At the end of the voice, the footsteps from the dark caves increased, and humanoid creatures dressed in formal clothes showed up. The weaker ones stayed behind as they got burnt by the sun the moment they tried to get out of their caves.

Unlike Zhang Wei and his wife, who were dressed in animal hides, these black-haired beings with snow-white pale skin that perfected their pointy ears were wearing black ancient suits and gowns.

The man in the middle, who was also the owner of the voice, had a cape that cleared his footprints on the dirt path. His face was triangular with a few wrinkles, and his body was strangely frail.

He bowed to the couple, and so did the hundreds of beings behind him.

"Verily, I am Drake Killersnow, the Acting Patriarch of the vampire race."

"Acting?"

Xiao Ting was stunned by what she was hearing. Drake was someone above the realm she was at.

Then what about the person above him?

Drake sensed this, and his face became a little grim. This was also something that was bothering him. He never wanted to be the vampire patriarch.

"Verily, I shall narrate the story of my elder sister, the venerable Grace Killersnow. She, with an insatiable longing to bask in the solar radiance, did petition our patriarch to inter her within an ancient vessel. Antecedent to her voluntary confinement, she did request that I entomb her upon the southern shore, there to lie dormant, like a seed in the earth, awaiting the animating influence of the solar beams and the heavenly moisture. And, moreover, she did instruct me to procure the blood of a pure half-breed vampire, that her seal might be rent asunder, and she, freed from her prison, might perambulate in the resplendent light of the sun."

"Verily, I did entomb my sister beneath the argent branches of the silver moon mimosa, a flower whose remarkable vitality enableth it to flourish for eons, untouched and untroubled. Yet, alas, we have since discovered that our blood, by reason of its extraordinary strength, cannot be blended with that of any other lineage."

....

However, over the course of history, the vampires were able to finally produce offspring with other races with a 0.01% success rate. Most of the time, the child is born as a vampire, but 0.035% of the time, the child will be a half-vampire.

Mickey grinned as he recalled the story, "Such an example is me!"

'Drake didn't want to forget the place where he put his sister, hence he used the silver moon mimosa to mark the position where he buried her.'

Mickey had bought binoculars beforehand, and within the range of twenty minutes, he had spotted something magical.

The plant resembled the mimosa from earth greatly, but it was silver and released a small hue like the moon's glow. Its petals were all moon-shaped.

Mickey couldn't help but gulp his saliva,

"...a plant from the fairy heaven, silver moon mimosa..."

Fairy heaven had long since crumbled down, and almost everything that grew on it was extinct. The silver moon mimosa would make even the strongest of Book Lords kill for it.

Like a person who found an oasis in the desert when he is thirsty, Mickey rushed towards this immortal plant, and the closer he got to it, the less speed he had.

'Should I wait until my departure to take Grace? She never appeared in the Anime. I know nothing about her.'

'No, I will take the gamble and rescue Grace. I need to make a contract with her either way. Also, there is no storage artifact or spell that can keep the silver moon mimosa in this city.'

All the greed that flashed in Mickey's scarlet eyes vanished as he put on sunglasses, but they were useless.

Argh, he groaned as he momentarily got blinded by the hue from the silver moon mimosa.

He used his instincts to pluck the fairy heaven plant from the ground, and the moment he did so, it wilted and turned into dust.

Mickey might have felt a sense of loss in his heart, but that was only for a second.

He saw a black object with golden markings from the place where the silver moon mimosa's roots were, and his heart instantly overflowed with joy.